Russian MPs pressing for Lenin to be laid to rest

The legislators also cited the position of the Russian Orthodox Church that Lenin should have been buried some 25 years ago

A group of Russian lawmakers has submitted a bill to the lower house of parliament demanding to remove the remains of Bolshevik revolution leader Vladimir Lenin from Moscow’s Red Square, the press service of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) said on Thursday.

Six MPs from LDPR and the ruling United Russia party said that if the draft law was adopted the Russian government would determine the time and place of Lenin’s body burial taking into account the political climate and the overall mood of society.

The legislators also cited the position of the Russian Orthodox Church that Lenin should have been buried some 25 years ago and quoted President Vladimir Putin who said that this issue should be handled “carefully to make no steps that could split the society.”

According to the lawmakers, the issue of Lenin’s burial “should have no historical, political or social background”, stressing that the Bolshevik leader’s body “is neither a symbol of the epoch, nor a symbol of national unity.”

The authors of the bill also cited the latest poll conducted ahead of Lenin’s birthday (April 22) by the All-Russia Public Opinion Center.

According to the survey, 60% of Russians are in favor of Lenin’s burial. Some 36% of them think Lenin should be buried immediately, while 24% said the communist leader should be moved from Red Square when the generation who honors him is gone.

Lenin’s embalmed body currently remains on display in the Mausoleum on Red Square for over 90 years despite numerous calls for his proper burial. His interment remains an issue of heated debate since the time of Perestroika. In 2016, the Russian Federal Protection Service (FSO) spent more than 13 million rubles (some $230,000) on preserving his body.